Was there tension in the Boston Celtics locker room after they dropped the first two games to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals? According to Jayson Tatum the answer is yes, but that tension was not a bad thing.
Following the Celtics getting their first win of the series in Game 3, 117-106, Tatum was asked about the potential tension in the locker room after the team went down in the series early, and Tatum didn't hold back.
“We’re not supposed to be happy we’re down 0-2,” Tatum said. “If you are, you don’t care. We care about this. Basketball is a game of emotions. You want guys to be frustrated, upset, to care. It’s nothing personal.”
This is something that was mentioned a lot during The Last Dance series about Michael Jordan. Reactions and emotions that, to laymen may seem like a player is a prick is really just actually caring about what he does. What Tatum says is true; a team should not be happy about being down 0-2, there should be frustration and anger at it, and sometimes that anger boils over. That emotion, however, can have one of two outcomes, and it looks like the Celtics are going in the direction of using that anger and frustration and turning it on the Heat in order to get back into the series.
So far it's working after the Celtics got their first win, but now the question is: Will they be able to keep up that intensity heading further into the series?
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